She is still a generally happy baby, though she has INTENSE fussy times, sometimes several times a day. Thankfully they are short (20 minutes) but MAN can girlfriend yell. It’s usually because we missed the 30 second window of time between Happy Playing Giggling Baby and OMG I’M SO TIIIIIRED Baby. Some rocking and swaddling and maybe some nursing and she’s good to go. But until then… my ears ring. heh

Her favorite things lately are her hands. NOM NOM NOMMING on them all the time. At first we thought maybe she was teething (LORD HELP ME.) because the drooling was insane. But I’m pretty sure it’s just normal putting-things-in-the-mouth and teething is a few months away. I hope. (POST TRAUMATIC TEETHING STRESS FROM YOUR SISTER, SORRY, BABY.)

Audrey also loves bathtime. Maggie used to SCREEEEEEAM no matter what we did. But Audrey is super-chill. She even admires herself in the mirror, all ‘Wow, that baby is GOOD LOOKING.’ Cracks me up. But, she seems to hate the car most of the time, which is also different than her sister. Maggie was always very mellow in her carseat, but Audrey tends to yell if we stop at a red light, or aren’t going fast enough, or if the sky is blue. I told her she’d better grow out of that quickly, because we like to go lots of places. In the car. So deal :P heh

She is sleeping really well. I hesitate to say that on the Internet because we all know the curse of announcing MY KID IS AWESOME! only to turn around and they’ve flushed your wallet down the toilet or something. But I’m willing to take my chances. Only because it’s not PERFECT. She’s not sleeping through the night- at least not every night. Maybe once a week or less, she’ll make it from 8 or 9 until 6am (WOOOOHOOO!) but usually we have a middle of the night snack around 3am. But it’s easy- nurse for 10 minutes, back to sleep, bam. I’ll take it, kiddo. You rock. We’ll work on the daytime napping, but I’m not going to complain.

And nursing in general? EASY AS PIE. I can say that with confidence now. Those first 7 weeks nearly broke me. I’m not exaggerating (ask Dan. Things got ugly a few times.) But we powered through and almost overnight things changed and now it feels so normal and simple and hassle-free. Pumping has even gotten better– I’ve got photographic evidence as proof! (What? YOU don’t take pictures of frozen breastmilk and post it on the internet? WEIRDO.)

The best part of my recent days is looking down at her while she’s eating and seeing her grinning back at me. Melts my heart. GAH.

In a few short weeks, we’ll be entering a new phase of Parenting Two Kids when I start back to work. Not a drastic change, since she will only be at daycare two days each week, but just the thought of me needing to focus on something other than nursing and napping and diapers has me both excited and a little nervous. My brain hasn’t done much heavy-lifting in a while… this could be interesting. ha

It’s been a long, hard, awesome, crazy, emotional thirteen weeks. Everyone in our family has been busy adjusting to life with two kids, instead of just one. There have been… growing pains. But, Audrey, please know that we all love you fiercely and are so happy you’re here.